


Underneath

by Troodster1972



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troodster1972/pseuds/Troodster1972
Summary: Seven's implant is hurting and Raffi wants to help, but Seven being Seven she finds it hard to let down her walls.
Relationships: Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Underneath

It had begun just short of a week ago. A minor irritation, which progressed to a continual stinging. Now, it was pain. Burning, incessant, pain. 

She had been able to ignore it until now, pushing the annoyance to the rear of her senses. However, this morning when she had woken and glanced into the bathroom mirror it was noticeable. A visible redness was clear at the edge of the metal implant which surrounded the side of her left eye. 

She knew perfectly well that she should have sought medical attention before now. This wasn’t the first time by any means that her implants had required attention. When she was first liberated from the Borg over 25 years prior she had the great fortune to have the assistance of Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram to keep her in “tip-top condition” as he frequently had described it. Performing weekly maintenance checks on her implants and systems and also regular checks on her biological wellbeing. 

After returning to earth the EMH had provided her with tricorders, programmes and an open comms channel to his lab in Starfleet Medical in order to continue her check-up’s.

Once part of the Fenris Rangers, she had managed to construct her own personal maintenance kits and had become more than adept at looking after herself, having frequent cause to perform more than adequate field repairs to herself on board her Corsair.

And that was where the problem stemmed from.

Her maintenance kit had been lost when her Corsair was destroyed saving La Sirena in a firefight.

She had managed to source a new portable regeneration unit in the short time that she had been back on Fenris once she had left, or rather fled from, Freecloud. But she had failed to do similar with her kit. 

Now, she was suffering - quite literally - for it.

Staring in the mirror she admonished herself for her oversight as her left eye began to water involuntarily as a fresh bout of pain surged beneath the metal covering which protected the electronic panel below, causing her to hiss as she gripped the edge of the bathroom washbasin, and squeezed her eyes closed.

She startled as she heard a warm familiar voice from behind her.

“Babe, you ok?” Raffi asked.

Seven turned to her and hurriedly adjusted her shirt in a futile attempt at appearing casual, the act not lost on Raffi.

“Yes,” the blonde mumbled, “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. You’re in pain honey, show me.” replied Raffi.

Seven turned her head away from her, reluctant to let Raffi see her discomfort. Despite them both being intimate, she still had difficulty appearing ‘weak’ before others. After so many years of putting up her protective walls, a subconscious self-preservation, she fiercely guarded her own autonomy. Letting others in was still a struggle for her.

She felt soft, gentle hands slowly caress her jaw, slowly coaxing her face around until she faced warm hazel eyes.

Raffi let her head drop to the side, “Oh, babe, that looks painful, why didn’t you say?” she said, her tone wrapped in concern. “Let me help.”

Seven snapped her head away from Raffi’s fingers and turned to walk out of the bathroom, “I don't need your help!” she quipped. 

Her exit was blocked as Raffi side-stepped into her path and she softly placed her palm onto Sevens chest.

“Woah there. Baby i know you don't need help - “

“I can look after myself -” Seven shot back.

“And how's that goin for ya?” replied Raffi with a smirk.

“Babe. I know you can look after yourself, and you have for a long time. But honey, let me help. It looks sore.” She placed her hand back upon Seven’s cheek. “Let me care.”

Seven breathed deeply. Every fibre of her wanted to push Raffi away, to scream at her to leave her alone. She wanted to fight, as she had done for so long. 

Yet, as she stood and looked at her lover, as another wave of burning surged through the raw flesh below her implant she surrendered to her internal battle and slowly nodded her head.

Raffi smiled and nodded in return.

“How long has it been like this honey?” she asked as she guided her into the main living area of the cabin to seek better light.

“It began almost a week ago now.” she answered, earning an admonishing frown.

“Seven!” she sighed, “what am i gonna do with you?”

Raffi cast her eyes over the obviously irritated skin around the implant, noting how some areas looked worse than others. 

“Has it happened before?” she enquired.

Seven merely nodded in response.

“Have you, uh, stupid question, but, have you tried a dermal regenerator?”

“It is not an option, “ seven replied, “the frequency of it causes interference in the apparatus beneath the external plate.” 

Raffi raised a brow, unsure of what had just been said.

“The visible piece. It covers the implant beneath.” Seven explained sheepishly.

“So that,” Raffi gestured toward the crescent of metal, “comes off?”

Seven nodded.

Raffi stood for a long few moments looking at Seven, waiting for a response.

“You gonna take it off? I need to see how bad it is underneath babe.”

Seven hesitated, other than Voyager’s EMH nobody had seen beneath the implant. Removing it before someone else was alien to her. Neither Kathryn; her closest friend, nor Bjayzl; her past lover, had seen beneath. For such a small, inanimate object, removing it felt like exposing a part of herself which no human eye had seen. 

“Babe?” Raffi questioned.

“I’ve…” she whispered, her vulnerability clearly reflected in her ice-blue eyes, “I’ve never removed it before another …”

Void of words to respond, Raffi simply leaned forward and placed a gently, reassuring kiss on her forehead.

“Let me help…” she whispered.

Slowly, pale hands lifted to the side of her head and tentatively manipulated the dull metal object which Raffi had automatically assumed were firmly fixed to the underlying bone. She hissed at the sting of pain which shot through the surrounding tissue as she depressed the concealed catch and removed the eyepiece.

“Oh, babe.” Raffi responded at the sight of dark red, angry tissue which clearly required attention.

“Maybe Anges should take a look at - “

“NO!” Seven, again, snapped her head away.

Raffi quickly raised her hands in faux defence.

“Ok. ok.” 

Breathing in a sigh, she tabled a suggestion.

“Hows about, I go speak to Agnes. I won’t go into too much detail babe, “ she quickly added as she saw Seven flinch. “I’ll explain the situation, I’ll tell her you’d rather not have her look… in the nicest way,” she winked, trying to interject a tiny amount of her Raff humour, “aaaand I’ll explain about the dermal regenerator thing too.” She opened her hands as she offered the idea to Seven.

“That, would be acceptable.”

“Good!” Raffi sighed with relief. “Ok, so, what do you usually do when it happens babe? So’s I can tell the doc.” 

“The EMH formulated a compound which I could apply to the area. A combination of an interleukin 23 inhibitor and certolizu-”

“Ya know what?” Raffi quickly handed her a PADD from the nearby desk, “why dontcha just write it down. Raffi ain’t never gonna remember that, never mind pronounce it.” she said with a laugh.

Seven quickly programmed the relevant pharmaceutical information and returned the PADD to the other woman with a small, sad smile.

“Thank you, Raffi.” she offered.

Raffi took the gadget and swiftly placed another kiss on the forehead of the now, thankfully, less anxious woman who had sat down on the edge of the bed they shared.

“Be right back.”

………………………………………. =/\= ……………………………………….

Seven sat anxiously as she awaited Raffi’s return. She had felt fearful of removing her external plate, however, Raffi had not responded in the way in which she had anticipated. She had expected a look of horror, or disgust, neither of which she had received. Instead, Raffi had shown her tenderness and care which she had not received in her time since leaving Voyager. The ship’s EMH had been the only one who had seen Seven in such an exposed manner. He had been the one who had removed her Borg exoplating, her eyepiece, her auditory plating, he had created her replacement eye; taking the care and precision to match it so exactly to her own that unless she chose to divulge the information, others did not know any different.

Now, Raffi, who had captured the heart of the former Borg drone, had seen parts of her which nobody else had. Such a tiny fragment of her body, yet it represented such a vulnerable part of her. 

And it was ok.

Raffi. Who she had let inside her protective walls.

Raffi. Who had accepted her, just as she was.

Raffi. Who appeared through the cabin door like a Ferengi racing towards an open vault of gold pressed latinum…

“Got it!” she announced with a smile to take down the hardest of foes. “I got it.”

Seven allowed her anxiety to subside as she watched the adorable Ops officer fly into full blown nurse-maid mode, placing a silver metal jar upon the bed and rushing into the bathroom. She listened as the sound of the sonic flow in the basin drowned out Raffi’s commentary of her exchange with Agnes, picking up the sentence only when she had finished cleaning her hands in preparation….

“... and then she said ‘ok, if he says this is what she needs’ then this should do the trick. If not, then you have strict orders to - and i quote her on this - ‘get her ass into my medlab!” 

Seven felt herself tense as she watched Raffi push her sleeve up her forearms. Again she suppressed the overwhelming urge to remove Raffi from the situation and deal with it on her own. Allowing her to see her implant was one thing. Allowing her to touch it in order to apply the treatment was another.

Yet, watching not just the care with which Raffi was approaching this, but also the joy which it seemed to bring her in caring for Seven; she couldn't help herself.

She felt safe.

She felt loved.

She felt like finally, she had found someone to whom she could let down her most guarded self and truly allow herself to be vulnerable.

“Ok. Agnes says just a little bit goes a looooong way,” Raffi announced, dragging out the ‘o’, making Seven smile.

She lifted a small amount of the white compound with the small metal spatula which the medic had provided, “she also said it would probably sting a little, babe.” she added with an apologetic grimace.

With the tenderness of a mother caring for her wounded child, Raffi gently applied the medication to the sensitive areas around a closed eye. Careful to apply as little pressure as possible.

Seven sucked in a sharp breath as the lotion made contact with her skin, clenching her jaw as she held in a much wanted cry.

“..’m so sorry babe, “ Raffi whispered, her heart quietly breaking for Seven. Every ounce of her wanted to reach out and hold her as she watched Seven relinquish herself to her care. She knew it was hard for her. She knew the invisible armour she hid behind. And she offered a silent prayer of thanks to any deity which may be listening.

“There, all done.”

She cleared the metal jar and spatula to the bathroom and returned wiping her hands against her black jeans, before sitting on the edge of the bed beside Seven.

“Thank you.” she said softly.

“For what?” Seven asked.

Raffi smiled. That smile which she kept in reserve for Seven.

“For letting me in. For letting me do that.”

The two women sat quietly, looking at each other. 

Raffi felt her hand being held by metal tipped fingers.

“Thank you…” Seven whispered.

“For what?” Said Raffi.

“For caring.” Seven whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> This came about after watching the episode Retrospect with friends. 
> 
> For Anni and Paris ❤


End file.
